As a promotional stunt in the run up to their 3301 Bootlegger Challenge, mobsters Anthony 'Fat Tony' Lonnegan and Enoch 'Little Nuk' Lonnegan, aka 'The Lonnegan Brothers' created The Black Riband, an award to be held by the 'Fastest Smuggler in the Galaxy.'

But Tony and Nuk enjoyed the whole Bootlegger Challenge so much that they decided to keep the Black Riband going, turning it into a standing challenge.

The original Black Riband ran until June 3304, however participation declined over the months and years, law-changes meant there wasn't much actual smuggling involved, only highly engineered DBX and Asp-X ships had a chance of holding the record, obtaining the required commodities became easier and the corporate government of Weyl Gateway even shut down the local black market.

So the Lonnegan Brothers went back to the drawing board, rebooting the course so that smuggling into six systems with black markets is required, the potential of interdiction and attack by both other commanders and 'buckyball fans' (npcs) is higher, and a knowledge of the effects of the background simulation on rare availability and faction type of legality is beneficial. Mandatory pre-declared start times and a 24 hour cooldown will also make every run a one-shot Ironman challenge.

The new event also includes separate awards given to those who prefer non-engineered ships and recognises the classic Cobras and Lakons favoured during the early days of rares trading and smuggling, so it's not just for ships with explorer in their name any more.

Fat Tony and Little Nuk Lonnegan

Yeah, yeah, so what's the deal this time?

To liven things up the brothers have:

Made deals with fellow mobsters in six popular systems around the bubble to ship large consignments of rare contraband directly into the system's main station

Arranged with eight different small scale gangs to provide shipments via dead-drops within the tunnels of two unauthorized installations

Tipped off the freelance pilots of the targeted systems that all the smugglers will broadcast their starting times before running

Assured the local security in Alacarakmo that they are completely 100% legitimate business men now, and that their runners will return with large shipments of fine goods.

Installed extra-large screen holopanels in the Sports Bar / Weyl Gateway and the Official BRC Fan Club / Rahu 1 so that everyone can sit back and enjoy the carnage.

A History Of The Black Riband:

The Black Riband originally ran as a part of the Lonnegan Brothers' 3301 event The Bootlegger Challenge. The Black Riband required commanders to collect eight specific commodities whereas the main Bootlegger Challenge allowed a choice.

After the two week Bootlegger Challenge ended, the Black Riband continued, with runs being accepted right up until the launch of this replacement event.

Prior to the switch to this rebooted event, the biggest change to the Black Riband occurred during the summer of 3302 with the introduction of engineering. At the time the Black Riband was held by commander furrycat, who's 51m12s run in the DBX Black Riband had stood for several months. At the time of the switch to the rebooted Black Riband commander furrycat's run is still the fastest run in a non-engineered ship.

The final holder of the original Black Riband was commander Bruski, who made his record run of 33m23s in his DBX RazorBear on 28-AUG-3303. A list of all holders of the original Black Riband is inside the spoiler tag below.

ENTRY CLASSES:
For the Black Riband there is one combined leaderboard with no distinction made between ship classes and engineered / non-engineered ships, all runs must also be in open mode.

However, a selection of honorary awards / titles other than the Black Riband will be made for valid Black Riband runs made with specific restrictions, eg non-engineered runs (see THE AWARDS below).

These awards also include a couple of separate events run alongside the Black Riband: Little Nuk's Booze Cruise Challenge for those who dare to transport passengers while making their runs and the return of the crazy Mrs Lonnegan's Ulitimate Spa Weekend Trophy.

For commanders who prefer a shorter, less complex race then try the Bootlegger Express.

THE AWARDS:

The legacy holders of these awards are the commanders who had the fastest run from the original Black Riband or Bootlegger Challenge events that met the award criteria. The legacy holders will be replaced by the first valid runs on the new course.

The 'Ultimate Spa Trophy' route hasn't changed, and so the original leaderboard and Drakhyr's record are carried over.

The Black Riband
The main event - awarded to the fastest run.

The Classic
Awarded to the fastest run in a non-engineered ship.

The Cobra Challenge Cup
Awarded to the fastest run in Cobra Mk3 or Mk4, this can be either engineered or non-engineered.

The Cobra Classic Cup
Awarded to the fastest run in a non-engineered Cobra Mk3 or Mk4.

The Lucky Lakon Trophy
Awarded to the fastest run in a Lakon Type 6, 7, 9 or 10.

The Zammo McGuire Memorial Shield
Awarded to the fastest run that does not involve the transport or use of narcotics – just say no!

The Bootlegger Express
A shorter standalone challenge, for commanders who find Black Riband too complex, or those who just fancy a quicker run.

The Cobra Express
Awarded to the fastest Bootlegger Express run made in a non-engineered Cobra Mk3 or Mk4.

The Mrs Lonnegan's Ulitimate Spa Weekend Trophy
The return of the (surprisingly) popular crazy standalone event from the Bootlegger Challenge – a must for Hutton Truckers and Netflix fans everywhere. Collect commodities from four of the most isolated outposts in the galaxy and give Mrs Lonnegan the weekend she deserves.

Finished docked at Weyl Gateway in Alacarakmo with 20 tons of legal rare commodities sourced from any of the stations that you visited enroute.

In between, call at the following six delivery stations, supplying 20 tons of illicit rare commodities to each black market:

Finney Dock in Eleu

George Lucas in Leesti

Hart Station in Bast

Hammel Terminal in Kamitra

Ridley Scott Station in Zaonce

Zamka Platform in George Pantazis

Make 4 tunnel drops at each of these two installations (see below for tunnel drop requirements).

Unauthorised Installation at Rahu 1

Halley Terminal in Ross 690

Additionally call at a minimum of four other rare commodity supply stations to source the required illicit rare commodities (see below for a helpful commodities guide), you must purchase at least 1 ton of rare commodities at each station.

You may visit the six delivery stations, four+ supply stations and two installations in any order, and you may visit each one more than once if desired / necessary.

HOW TO ENTER:

STEP 1: Mandatory pre-run declaration

NOTE: Pre-run declaration is only required for the Black Riband and the Bootlegger Express courses. It is not required for Spa Trophy runs.

Make a per-run declaration in this thread, stating the following:

Commander Name

Target black market system (for Bootlegger Express runs only).

Scheduled start time

Your scheduled start time must be at least 30 minutes after your declaration is made, and no more than 24 hours later than your declaration.

Validate your registration by completing the online registration form, this must be done at least 30 minutes before your run and must be date stamped later than the last edit of your forum declaration. > > >CLICK THIS LINK< < <

STEP 2: The Run

Begin docked at Weyl Gateway in Alacarakmo, with an empty cargo hold.

Ensure that you are in OPEN mode (n/a for Spa Trophy).

Ensure that REPORT CRIMES in the function tab of your right hand panel is switched to OFF (n/a for Spa Trophy)

If you are submitting your run for The Classic and/or The Cobra Classic then take screenshots of either the outfitting screens, or the modules tab, to show that you have no engineered or guardian modules fitted.

If you are submitting a run for Little Nuk’s Booze Cruise then take screenshots of:

Your passenger tab (to show cabins occupied)

You transactions tab to show mission timers

The last page of each passenger mission, to show starting satisfaction, etc.

Take a docked screenshot showing the station clock and date – this is your START TIME, it must be no earlier than your scheduled start time and no later than 15 minutes after your scheduled start time.

Complete either:

THE COURSE above for Black Riband runs.

One of the ALTERNATIVE COURSES below for Bootlegger Express or Spa Trophy runs.

During your run take the following screenshots:

A black market screenshot before selling for each visit to a target black market, showing the illicit commodities in your hold.

A screenshot of the galaxy map during your visits to the Rahu / Ross 690 systems, showing the time and date and that your current location is that system.

An in-ship screenshot for each tunnel drop, showing the ship clock and a cargo jettisoned message whilst visibly inside a tunnel.

Finish back at Weyl Gateway, with no "illicit goods" message displayed (n/a for Spa Trophy)

Take a docked screenshot at Weyl Gateway showing the station clock and date – this is your FINISH TIME.

Within one minute of your finish time, take screenshot(s) of the commodities market at Weyl Gateway showing the required commodities are in your hold.
For the Spa Trophy an inventory panel shot will suffice for Montrona Experience Jelly, as Weyl Gateway has no black market.

If you are submitting a run for Little Nuk’s Booze Cruise then take screenshots of:

Your passenger tab (to show cabins occupied)

You transactions tab to show mission timers

The last page of each passenger mission, to show starting satisfaction, etc.

NOTE: If you are providing a video recording of your run, then no screenshot evidence is required.

Note: Any rare commodity supply system can be used as a source. This listing includes the sources of all commodities known to be illegal at the targets, excluding those with excessive supercruise distances.

Distances Between All Systems

Note: Any rare commodity supply system can be used as a source. This listing includes the sources of all commodities known to be illegal at the targets, excluding those with excessive supercruise distances.

If you want to quickly throw together your own distance grid / raikogram then take a look at CapitanAceRimmer's excellent distance between systems page on http://elitedangerous.hozbase.co.uk/

P.S. join us in Discord for live chat before, during or after making a run!

For each tunnel drop, you must fly into a tunnel at the installation and then jettison one cannister of cargo containing one of the commodities listed in the Illicit Rare Commodities table shown below.

For a Black Riband run, you do not have to make all 4 drops in different tunnels, but you cannot use the same tunnel twice in a row.

For a Bootlegger Express run, both tunnel drops must be made in different tunnels.

Watch out! The gangs that Tony and Nuk arranged these tunnel drops for aren't the most trustworthy, and they're also non too happy that you're making drops for rival gangs at the same installation. They might think it's better to take all your cargo if you give them a chance.

COOLDOWN:

You cannot declare another run within 24 hours of the scheduled start time of your previous run – even a cancelled run.
This even applies across both run types, i.e. you cannot declare a Bootlegger Express run less than 24 hours after starting a Black Riband Run.

You can however attempt each one of the five Bootlegger Express Runs within the same 24 hour period, providing you only have one declaration active at any time.

There are two reasons for the cooldown rules:

It makes every Black Riband attempt effectively a one-shot Ironman run, if you mess up more than 15 minutes after your declared start time, then your run is blown for at least another day and the BGS state could change before you can run again.

It reduces the impact made on the target faction. The only way to set this up to have stable black markets was to use player faction systems (and two high population Old Worlds Alliance systems). Limiting black market visits to one per day for each racer reduces the damage done. If the factions wish to limit things further they can use your scheduled start time to know when you're coming and attempt to discourage you in person.

ALTERNATIVE COURSES:

The Bootlegger Express:

Start docked at Weyl Gateway in Alacarakmo, with an empty cargo hold.

Finished docked at Weyl Gateway in Alacarakmo with 8 tons of legal rare commodities sourced from any of the stations that you visited enroute.

In between, call at any four other rare commodity supply stations to source the required rare commodities (see below for a helpful commodities guide), you must purchase at least 1 ton of rare commodities at each station.

Next, call at any one* of the following five delivery stations/combos, supplying 8 tons* of illicit rare commodities to the black market:

Make 2 tunnel drops at one of the following two installations (see above for tunnel drop requirements).

Unauthorised Installation at Rahu 1

Halley Terminal in Ross 690

You may visit the delivery station, four supply stations and the installation in any order during your run.

You can hold separate records for each of the five Bootlegger / Cobra Express runs.

The Mrs Lonnegan's Ultimate Spa Weekend Trophy:

Start docked at Weyl Gateway in Alacarakmo, with an empty cargo hold.

Finished docked at Weyl Gateway in Alacarakmo with at least 1 ton of each of required rare commodities in your cargo hold.

In between, call at the following four remote outposts, collecting at least 1 ton of each listed commodity:

Hutton Orbital in Alpha Centauri, collect Centauri Mega Gin. (Plus as many Mugs as you like of course!)

Pinzon Dock in Dea Motrona, collect Motrona Experience Jelly.

Kaku Plant in V1090 Herculis, collect V Herculis Body Rub.

Ehrlich Orbital in LFT 1421, collect Void Extract Coffee.

You may call at the outposts in any order.

COMMODITIES GUIDE:

The table below lists all the rare commodities that are illegal in either Weyl Gateway, or in any of the six target black markets, other than commodities which require very long supercruise journeys to obtain – such as Geawen Dance Dust.

The boom supply for each commodity is the amount that will be available to buy if you visit the station when the owning minor faction is in boom state.

The normal supply is the amount that will be available to buy if you visit the station when the owning minor faction has no active state.

Some faction states, such as war, cause the spawn to drop below its normal supply amount and in some cases a commodity will be unavailable while an unfavourable faction state is active – eg weapons will be out of supply during a war / civil war.

The table above shows the import legality of the illicit rare commodities at each of the seven stations you'll be supplying, including Weyl Gateway.

LITTLE NUK'S BOOZE CRUISE

Everyone loves a good Buckyball Race, but for many the cost of funding multiple rebuys of expensive heavily engineered racing ships is just prohibitive.

So Little Nuk hit on the idea of the Little Nuk's Booze Cruise Challenge – inspired by the prohibition-era booze cruisers that operated off the US Eastern Seaboard back when a distant ancestor of Nuk's ran things in Altantic City – the Booze Cruise offers paying guests the chance to experience a Buckyball race first hand, in a luxury setting with an free bar.

All entries into Little Nuk's Booze Cruise Challenge must be valid Black Riband runs meeting all the usual requirements, including pre-run registration and being made in open mode. The run will be added to the full list of Black Riband attempts – where it will be marked as Booze Cruise run – and if it's a commander's fastest run in that ship type , it will also be added to the overall leaderboard.

Booze Cruise runs can also be valid for The Classic, Lucky Lakon, etc as well, so long as they meet the appropriate requirements.

The only additional requirements to enter the Booze Cruise Challenge is that at least one passenger cabin module is fitted and at least one passenger mission is in progress at the beginning of the run.

Fit as many passenger modules as you wish – higher luxury gives better scores as Nuk doesn't really want his name associated with some tatty old space-bus.

Fill your cabins with as many passenger missions as you like, and then do your best to get to the start-line with all the passengers still happy.

If you're not recording a video of your run, you'll now unfortunately need to take lots of screenshots:

your passenger inventory tab – to show cabin occupancy

your transactions tab – to show a summary of all the missions with timers

The bottom screen of each passenger mission transaction, to show a summary of the mission and how happy the passengers are.

If you are videoing the run, then just step through each of the required screens.

Note that if your passengers aren't all happy at the start of the race, then you've already lost points, so either get all your passengers from Weyl Gateway – where Little Nuk is paying for a MASSIVE Booze Cruise billboard! – or take good care to get them to the start line in a good mood.

Then hit launch and try to complete your Black Riband run while those daring passengers attempt to hold onto their drinks!

At the end of your run you'll need to take another set of screenshots as list above, or step back through all the screens for a video.

Booze Cruise Runs are ranked using the following scores:

Base Score: 4000 points.

Every full second less than 90 minutes +1 point

Every full second more than 90 minutes -1 point

Each occupied cabin at start:

Luxury Class +300 points

First Class +200 points

Business Class +100 points

Economy Class +0 points

Passenger satisfaction at finish (per mission):

Happy +300 points

Content +50 points

Unhappy -250 points

Miserable / Mission Failed / Empty Cabin -500 points

There's no Booze Cruise for either the Bootlegger Express or the Spa Trophy, but if you're making a Spa Trophy run, it might be worth your while to look for passengers travelling to those outposts before your attempt. Such runs will potentially pay for all your BRC rebuys for a long time to come.

And imagine the delight of a passenger all ready to head to Pinzon Dock who gets a free trip to Hutton Orbital first!

Tony has been been known to be a little bit too rude honest with his answers from time to time, so each question will be answered separately by the BRC as well.

Q: How am I supposed to get 20 tons of illicit rares to each Black Market? That's way too complex and it'll take hours!

Fat Tony:Man up of Shut up!

The BRC:The race is deliberately complex, however sourcing 120 tons of rares isn't difficult if one or two of the best sources are in boom. We estimate an optimal run is possible in less than an hour, but non-optimal runs or runs in the Cobra Classic or the Zammo Memorial could take much longer.

Note that highly optimised runs aren't necessarily the only way to do this. All you need to do before returning to Weyl Gateway with your legal rares is to supply 20 tons of illicit rares to each target station and make four 1 ton tunnel-drops at each installation (calling at four or more supply stations en-route). This can easily be accomplished by either making 6 source collections in a small ship (eg Cobra MkIII or DBX) or gathering everything needed in a large ship (eg Python or Krait MkII). This event is only as complex as you make it.

However, if you fancy a run that's quicker, simpler and more like the original Black Riband, then try the Bootlegger Express – with just one black market to supply (or two if you choose the Old Worlds) it's much more straight forward.

Q: Kamitra is one of the targets, and Kamitra Cigars are banned in Bast. Can I use Kamitra as one of my four source systems?

Fat Tony:Read the rules dummy!

The BRC:No, you must visit four rare commodity systems in addition to your target systems. You may however use Kamitra Cigars as one of your illicit commodities, and you could use Kamitra as one of your four supply systems for a Bootlegger Express run to Bast.

Q: Can I use a legal rare supply system as one of my four supply systems?

Fat Tony: I don't care, just get the job done!

The BRC:Yes, as long as you supply the required illicit commodities to the targets and the required legal commodities to Weyl Gateway – and you visit at least four other rare commodity supply systems, then anything goes. This is probably particularly optimal if you are making a Bootlegger express run to Leesti and Zaonce, just remember that you must collect at least one ton of commodities from each of the four supply systems; and that anything you don't sell at the target black markets must be legal in Weyl Gateway.

Q: Why open mode only – I hate open it's full of griefers!

Fat Tony: Cus Nuk loves griefers, he just wants to watch the galaxy burn. And I hate carebears – okay?

The BRC: The systems targeted are mainly controlled by player minor factions, and so it's better if anything that potentially affects them negatively (eg smuggling into their black markets) occurs in open mode. We expect that the NPCs of the Official BRC Fan Club at Rahu-1 and the Grey Comets at Halley Terminal will prove to be more dangerous than other commanders though.

Q: Why do I have to switch off report crimes?

Fat Tony: Cus no one likes a snitch!

BRC: It allows commanders, particularly those from the player minor factions of the target systems to intercept smuggling runs without being criminalised themselves. The Black Riband and the Bootlegger Challenge have always carried a PVP risk, and by making a run you are consenting that you accept that risk – switching off report crimes is standard at PVP events.

Q: This race has is going to involve smuggling narcotics, I don’t do that EVER!

The BRC: The Zammo McGuire Memorial Shield will be awarded to fastest run that does not involve narcotics. So feel free to supply alcohol, cigarettes, illegal nanotech and biological weapons to the destination systems with a clean conscience.

Q: So which commodities count as narcotics?

Fat Tony:Anything that gets you high dummy!

The BRC: Anything with onionhead (or onion head) in the name, Lyrae Weed, Tarach Spice, Crom Silver Fesh and Pavonis Ear Grubs (for some reason). Also Geawen Dance Dust and Motrona Experience Jelly, but we don't expect anyone will go for those; and Wolf Fesh if it ever unlocks again.

Q: I know of another rare commodity that's illegal in one of the systems. Can I run that instead?

The BRC: Yes, you can use any rare commodities you like. So long as you supply 20 tons of illicit rares to each target and 20 tons of legal rares to Weyl Gateway then all is good. The illicit goods and legality tables provided are intended as guidance rather than forcing particular commodities.

Q: What if someone flips the government of Weyl Gateway to make everything legal?

Fat Tony: I hate the damn corps, and the Feds!

The BRC: We like your thinking and so does Fat Tony. Flipping the government of Weyl Gateway to either anarchy or dictatorship will legalise all rare commodities.

Q: What if a target black market is closed?

Fat Tony: Then we need to go for plan B.

The BRC: The six target systems have been selected because they have stable controlling governments. Either they are controlled by long standing and well organised player factions, or in the case of the two Old Worlds systems, they are in the heart of Mahon powerplay territory and also watched over by large Alliance player groups. So we don't expect these Black Markets to vanish, other than perhaps due to temporary lockdown (I've not checked yet, but I think the black market may still be available during lockdown).

In the event of one of the target Black Markets being closed (which can be seen by checking the station facilities in the system map before making a run) the closest available rares supply system Black Market will be used instead. See the tables below (behind the spoiler button).

Table will be added later today

Q: What if Weyl Gateway goes into lockdown?

Fat Tony: Then me 'n Nuk go into hiding!

The BRC: The Black Riband will be temporarily suspended in the event of Weyl Gateway going into lockdown. Lockdowns last a minimum of 3 days.

I'll be tidying up the event posts today. If anyone has any questions they'll get added into the "Ask Tony" section.

Having had another day to think about the shorter Bootlegger/Cobra Express races, I'll have one overall list of runs, but I'll also have a table with at least one fastest time to each of the six systems for each event. So e.g. there'll be a Bootlegger record to Bast and a Cobra record to Leesti. If it looks good I'll list runners-up or top-three for each system.

Otherwise one station / installation combo will be optimal and will be the only run anyone ever makes.

I'm also probably going to tweak it so that Leesti/Zaonce is one run, with 8 tons of contraband being delivered to each station (so a slightly bigger course than the other 4 four Bootlegger Express runs).

Apologies for having that still being worked on, the Bootlegger Express only got added on Friday/Saturday while I had a think about Edelgard's concerns.

I was very disappointed not to win the original Spa Trophy so I expect I will have a crack at that first.

I'm still amazed that anyone other than me even had a go at the Spa Trophy (in the days before the mug even!), let alone making multiple runs in a battle for the lead.

Motrona Experience Jelly being unlocked as I was preparing this race seemed like an omen though, so I had to include it. I'll have another go at that one myself as long as someone else sets a good time with a current ship - I'll use something with an uncompetitive jump range, like my iCourier or Viper, so my run will be for fun.

I'd use my Type-9 if these were stations, but I guess I can make a Type-9 run myself in the Black Riband, once there's new times for the Black Riband and the Lucky Lakon Trophy. (I never want to hold any award myself as long as there's interest in the event).

If anyone does make a Spa Trophy run and has the "Hutton Helper" plugin installed for EDMC then your time will be added to the Hutton Orbital Radio Trucker's "The Hutton Run" leaderboard I believe: hot.forthemug.com/thehuttonrun.php

I've not made a run out to Hutton since installing the HH EDMC plugin, but I do plan to as there's a distinct lack of BRC names on the leaderboard at the moment (and I remember a lot of familiar names being in Alpha Centauri on my Galmap during the Hutton Mugs CG).

Quick message to say I definitely plan to give this a go but right now I'm still exploring new 3.1 content (I want to fully outfit and engineer the Krait as a serious alternative to my beloved Python main ship plus there's a whole pile of new surface installations and audio logs that I want to visit and enjoy).

Quick message to say I definitely plan to give this a go but right now I'm still exploring new 3.1 content (I want to fully outfit and engineer the Krait as a serious alternative to my beloved Python main ship plus there's a whole pile of new surface installations and audio logs that I want to visit and enjoy).

No worries Alec, I'm doing pretty much the same myself.

I expect to keep the event running for years, so there's no need to make it a priority over anything else.

I've tweaked both the Bootlegger Express and the Cooldown runs, so that:

Leesti and Zaonce are now run as a "combo" - requiring 8 tons each.

Separate records can be held for each of the 5 Bootlegger Express runs - and their Cobra Express equivalents

The cooldown rules now allow each of the five Bootlegger Express runs to be attempted in the same day - with one declaration active at a time.

I'm not planning to tweak any other rules now, I'll just get the missing stuff like the Booze Cruise rules added.

I'm hoping to sort out the complex multi-leaderboard stuff using Google docs, in order to just have the main leaderboard here and the list of awards, and the rest of the stuff sorted out dynamically by Google.

I've not played around much with Google docs before other than for the entry forms, so it might not work as well as I hope.

Thanks! That's going to be a rough course to plot, the 45t of Pavonis Ear Grubs in their current boom is so tempting

"Native to the harsh desert climate, these unpleasant creatures will burrow into any soft surface, including flesh, to avoid the sun. Their resemblance of a walking human ear lead to their name. Some slavers use these grubs as a restrainer for their captives, attaching a dormant extra ear to the forehead of their slave that can be remotely triggered."
The description and use of these grubs is, barring their appearance as "ears", almost identical to the mind-enslaving "Ceti eels" found in the Star Trek movie Wrath of Khan. The eels buried their way into Human ears and latched to the brain internally, making the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion and more-or-less a slave. This may or may not be an intentional reference on the part of Frontier."

Thanks! That's going to be a rough course to plot, the 45t of Pavonis Ear Grubs in their current boom is so tempting

"Native to the harsh desert climate, these unpleasant creatures will burrow into any soft surface, including flesh, to avoid the sun. Their resemblance of a walking human ear lead to their name. Some slavers use these grubs as a restrainer for their captives, attaching a dormant extra ear to the forehead of their slave that can be remotely triggered."
The description and use of these grubs is, barring their appearance as "ears", almost identical to the mind-enslaving "Ceti eels" found in the Star Trek movie Wrath of Khan. The eels buried their way into Human ears and latched to the brain internally, making the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion and more-or-less a slave. This may or may not be an intentional reference on the part of Frontier."

I guess that's mind-altering at least.

I'm sure it's an intentional reference.

There's nothing (other than morals) to force you to avoid shipping narcotics - unless you're after every award.

If it tempts you further, Crom (not in boom at the moment) is only a single jump away (less than 30ly I think), with more narcotics (26t in boom). The permit only took a couple of hours to unlock in a python.